


sparkplug

by ninata



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/strange fake, ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 - 三田誠 | Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - Sanda Makoto
Genre: Character Study, First Kiss, Headcanon, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, Spoilers, characterization spoilers, quick n dirty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22141450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninata/pseuds/ninata
Summary: Flat has a completely normal, perfectly average day before Svin graduates. (read notes for warnings)
Relationships: Flat Escardos/Svin Glascheit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	sparkplug

**Author's Note:**

> contains an explicit spoiler of the 2nd case/3rd novel of case files!  
> other warnings:  
> -mentions of past child abuse  
> -violent imagery  
> -some not so gentle making out  
> -some "i'm not gay!!!!" bs  
> hope you enjoy it! let's goooo

Flat sparks and blisters like a live wire. The air is thick with it, fog and dust and clouds, thick, humid air he cuts through with a short stride and laced shoes, neat bows double-knotted. His dearest dream is to break free, to float far above all the TV static and electric noise. It gets so loud in the Clock Tower, he can swim.

If it weren’t for the professor, Flat would be a bad person, he thinks.

He slides down railings, hopping on every other tile, tripping on the sudden cracks and righting himself with magic intervention. There is no one who could possibly understand. There is no one human nor mage that could try, so Flat restrains himself, ties himself back in neat bows double-knotted.

Today Flat does what he usually does, sparking as he flutters from classroom to office to hallway, playing pranks and eating snacks. His shiny smile is full of teeth. It’s a perfect picture of ease, of comfort. Flat feels so happy here, he thinks, heading to the dormitory, smiling neatly in tight bows, double-knotted fist around the door handle, pulling open his room and descending to the depths.

_ Shall we do another experiment?  _ He cuts through the dense mana in the air, his smile melting past his cheeks. He’s not a good person, and he’s not a good mage. He knows that.

Is he a monster? He used to wonder, but someone answered that question.  _ You are broken.  _ Defective. Flat is a fucktillion nerve endings, screaming in pain. Flat is the culmination of his family’s legacy. He should be proud. He should be normal. He should be dead.

He erases the equation he had been solving on his chalkboard wall. Frowning, he wonders again how the weight of a human soul can be converted— how od becomes electricity. Maybe he should ask Caules after all. The professor won’t answer.

He draws a big line. Numbers line up underneath it, decimals and divisions of fractions that lead towards a formula he can’t crack. Theories after theories, classes he didn’t study for and papers the professor assigned that he mooched a thesis idea for. 

Frustrated, and unsure how to factor in the Counter Force and Alaya, Flat is about to start again when his door opens.

“Flat?”

Svin Glascheit wanders in. He’s been starting to hit a growth spurt, and his hair is getting a little long in the back. Flat flusters, laughing, and suddenly all that darkness is flushed out.

“Hey, can you maybe knock, le Chien?”

“Oh, boo hoo.” Svin crosses his arms, glaring at Flat, nostrils flared as he sniffs the air, presumably getting a feel for Flat’s mood.

“...So, tomorrow.”

“Yep, what about it?”

“You know…”

“Yep, yep! That’s the big day, right? Svin is going to be leaving the ranks of El-Melloi II to join the big guys! Or really, you’re going to be training under some expert in the Alps, right?”

“Yes,” Svin says hesitantly, his expression complicated. “The professor recommended me to him himself, so it’ll likely be fruitful for developing my magecraft.”

_ Developing his magecraft.  _ Flat pictures the kid who looked just like himself that bit him several times and didn’t seem used to being able to eat whenever he wanted. Flat pictures him thrashing around in a cage, electrocuted any time he touches the metal, lying on his side, drool leaking from between a pretty cupid’s bow and a cracked lower lip. Empty eyes.

“You’re gonna be fine!” Flat says more to assure himself. “And if you do awful and have to come back, we’ll welcome you!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Svin grumbles.

Flat grins, bouncing on his heels. “So? What’s up?”

“...Did you want to spend our last day together?” Svin asks. “I’m not going to see you for a while.”

Flat is so taken aback his smile falls for a moment. He recovers quickly, bounding forward and grabbing Svin’s hands.

“Yes! I’d be happy to keep my lonely le Chien company! Did everyone else say no?”

“Y-You were the first person I asked.”

Flat swallows his reaction this time.

They elect to playing cards on Flat’s bed.

“We could play on my computer, you know.” Flat places a three of hearts on the pile. “We could look at scantily clad ladies together. Don’t you want to?”

“Stop saying weird stuff.” Svin growls, flipping a five of diamonds on top. Flat laughs again. “...You know, I think I’m gonna give up on miss Gray.”

“What! Le Chien, how mature of you! So you’ve come to your senses, eh?”

“Don’t mock me!” Svin snarls. “Look, I...I thought a lot about it.

“I think I was just holding onto this crush because it made me...feel human. Sometimes, I feel like I’m just some...beast, and having a girl I liked...it felt...i-it felt normal. I just want to be normal.”

Flat stays silent.

“But it wasn’t that. I just…felt similar to her, in the end. I thought we were the same, so maybe we could be in love, but...really, I respect her. And I want to be someone she can respect, too.”

Flat chews his cheek.

“...That’s pretty big of you, Svin.” He says earnestly, or with something resembling it. “I’m happy you’re trying harder.”

“Well, I’m graduating.” He shrugs. “I can’t stay stuck forever.”

Flat envies that a little. He flips over an ace of spades.

“But I...I don’t know. I guess it’s sad. My first love wasn’t even love after all.”

Flat’s jealous, but he says nothing to indicate it. He shouldn’t, at least. He won’t, but...

“...Hey, le Chien.” Flat says, snapping his finger with a wink. “Have you ever thought about practicing for that kind of thing?”

“...What do you mean?”

“Maybe if you practiced a little, you’d get better at love and stuff!”

“I don’t know…” Svin says.

“Like, I could help you!”

“...With what experience?” Svin says, pink in the face.

“Oh, I’ve kissed loads of people, first off!” Flat lies. Svin blusters.

“What?! How! When?! Why?!” Svin grabs him. “With who?! What’s the— the whydunnit! Explain it now!”

“Eheheh, I’m just a league ahead of le Chien.” Flat’s heartbeat is in the back of his throat. “C’mon, I can teach you!”

“...F…” Svin swallows heavily. “...Fine. But only because I trust you, okay? You’re not going to prank me?”

A bite! Hook line and sinker. “Of course not!”

Svin nods. “So, um, a-ah, do I…”

“Just sit still,” Flat smiles, “And close your eyes.”

“...You promise you won’t smack me or something?”

“No way! I would never!”

Svin closes his eyes. Flat leans in.

What is he doing? If Svin’s a monster, Flat isn’t even alive. Isn’t living. Isn’t real or resembling a sentient, Earthly creature. He’s cracked in the center, something is dangerously wrong with himself.

His breath brushes past Svin’s lips. He looks at him, the prettyboy of the El-Melloi II class, with a sharp nose and blond eyelashes, heavy but fair colored eyebrows. This face had become so familiar, so much like his own. Easily mistaken for each other, his doppelgänger, his reflection.

“...Haha, got you!”

Flat moves to pull back. Svin grabs him again, and tugs him close.

Their mouths smash together harshly. Flat jolts, a small noise escaping him as the cards fold underneath his legs. At the parting of his lips, Svin recoils.

“Huh?!”

“Huh?”

“Y-You—“

Flat urges him back closer again, stealing a kiss from him. 

“Uh,” Svin’s face is almost violet. “Uh, I…”

Svin’s lips are blood red. Flat, entranced, snatches them in his again. A bite. Svin nips at Flat’s mouth, then pushes him back against the headboard. 

A little much, but Flat doesn’t mind as Svin bites hard on Flat’s lip, rolling it between his teeth. He exhales, and Svin sucks in the air, grabs him by the front of his shirt, fingers knotted up in the fabric. 

Flat isn’t in love either, he tells himself. This is just a fun thing, a little experiment. People like him cannot love.  _ Things  _ like him cannot have tenderness. Svin’s bites get more desperate, and he pulls back Flat’s collar, biting and sucking hard on the skin. “S-Svin—“ Flat shudders, feeling blood prickle around Svin’s teeth. It’s not bad. He looks upon it with clinical indifference, his body rocking up towards Svin’s and—

“Uh!”

Svin pulls back, looking mortified.

“W-Wait, what are we...w-we shouldn’t be…”

“Why not?” Flat asks.

“We’re...we’re best friends, and...both, uh…”

Flat tilts his head.

“I...I need to cool my head!” Svin splutters. “I’m not— mad. Just, um, uh, t-that, my first, I can’t, um… W-We’re…”

“It’s okay, le Chien.” Flat says passively. “I don’t care what you do to me.”

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Svin barks. “I…I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?!”

He jumps to his feet, waddling hurriedly to the door and out. Flat’s healing magecraft is already fixing the wounds.

This world is nothing to him. This world is everything to him. He’s confused, so he lies on his back, staring at the ceiling.

That's right. If he hated Svin or loved him, it didn't matter. He remembers the guy from Iselma who killed the girl he loved, just to see what she looked like on the inside, or something similarly romantic and meaningless. Those kinds of things were past Flat. Flat is beyond those things, and it feels—

It feels—

It feels like Hell.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in a car home from a con!!! woof. i am..sad. i'm sda about flat. i want to protecct him...and svinchan...me and vitriol on ao3 keep talking about them and i'm just.... my fucking uwus man...this is the son zone.  
> thanks for the read!


End file.
